It didn’t take long for the Washington Capitals to find their next third line right wing.
Just hours after Brett Connolly reportedly agreed to a four-year deal in Florida, the Washington Capitals reportedly agreed to terms with right winger Richard Panik.
The move was first reported by Bob McKenzie late on Sunday night.
Panik played the 2018-19 season in Arizona, where he scored 14 goals and tallied 33 points — the third highest total of his career. His career high of 22 goals came in Chicago in the 2016-17 season, where he notched 44 points.
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Before Arizona, he played in Chicago from 2016 to 2018, when he was dealt to the desert.
He made stops in Toronto and was once the 52nd overall pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2009. The Slovakian winger is 28 years old and is expected to play on the third line with Carl Hagelin and Lars Eller.
After the signing of Carl Hagelin earlier this offseason to a four-year, 2.75 million dollar deal, the Capitals third line is now locked up for the foreseeable future.
Lars Eller is signed at 3.5 million dollars for the next four years as well, meaning the Capitals third line is locked in at 8.75 million dollars until the end of the 2023 season.
Panik isn’t the flashiest player and he won’t wow anyone with his skillset, speed or physicality, but he’s efficient nonetheless.
On a third line with a possession standout in Hagelin, there should be room to operate for Panik.
In each of the last three seasons, he’s posted a Corsi For percentage of above 50 percent and has posted a Relative Corsi above zero for the last three seasons. According to Hockey-Reference, his Corsi For percentage the last three years has been: 50.8, 53.8 and 55.3.
Speaking through possession statistics, he’s shown an ability to boost a line throughout his career, too.
When Panik was on the ice in the 2018-19 season, the Coyotes had 51.65 percent of the Scoring Chances for, 51.83 percent of High-Danger chances for and 51.39 percent of shots on net for.
This is a good and fair question.
— Tyler Kelley (@DocKelley41) June 23, 2019
Panik is phenomenal at 5v5 and his numbers appear underwhelming because he hasn’t been good on the PP. A team that just acquired Hughes/Subban doesn’t need to worry about that. https://t.co/keSIMp4Rd0 pic.twitter.com/YETheIH1ob
In terms of Expected Goals, Panik placed third on the Coyotes in players that skated more than 10 games total over the last two seasons with an Expected Goals percentage of 52.34.
With Panik in the fold, the Capitals top nine appears to be set, assuming the signing of Jakub Vrana gets done in the near future.
Once Christian Djoos and Vrana get locked up, which the Capitals have enough space to do, the 2019-20 version of the Washington Capitals will essentially be set in stone.
General Manager Brian MacLellan didn’t waste much time finding his new third liner, a move that should set the Capitals up for a mostly slow offseason.
Update: It’s official. The Capitals announced less than an hour into free agency that they signed Richard Panik to a four-year, $11-million deal. The contract carries an AAV of $2.75 million.
https://twitter.com/Capitals/status/1145744584208764929